3 things a coach can take into action and increase learning

1. Use learning tools and material

It's very important that players can prepare for the practice. When the practice session starts, everybody knows what the teams is going to do today and the whole session is more efficient.

What if school teachers taught our kids the same we usually coach them? Teacher goes to the class, but he or she is the only one who has the books and teaching material. Students don't have any books or material. The only way they can get information is what the teacher says to them. Kids don't have any chance to learn by themselves, study the subject afterward or familiarize oneself with the subject beforehand.

If we don't teach our kids in school like this, then why we are coaching them in this method? Both coaching and teaching have the same objective: to learn new skills and acquire knowledge. This is where CoPlays Coaching Platform comes in handy: players can see the drills beforehand or study them at home after practice. Which leads us to...

2. Give homework

Players should also be able to see and go through afterward about what we did in practice. It is the same thing as students doing homework after school. Why we don't allow our players to do homework? Stars are born, when they are put to work at their own time.

3. Give feedback

Feedback is the basis of all learning. We do something and then get feedback on how it went. In a game, the feedback is sometimes clear: opponent scores a goal - we know that something went wrong. In many situations the outcome is not as clear and the player needs feedback. But often coaches don't have the time and resources to give personal feedback to every player. Now we don't have to be in the same place at the same time anymore! For teaching and giving feedback, we can use the tools that our young players are most familiar with: smartphones. When we leave the field, it shouldn't be the point where learning stops, it should be the point where learning starts!

Markus Kauppinen
Captain of CoPlays

Markus is a former professional volleyball player from the Finnish main national league. He is passionate about coaching and making good coaching easier.

Today he is working with CoPlays Coaching Platform. CoPlays supports coaching and drills for four team sports: ice hockey, soccer, floorball and basketball.

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